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North Boulder housing projects ramping up

Violet Crossing, Yarmouth Way new developments filling out northwest parcel of city

By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer

Posted:
08/14/2011 11:02:43 PM MDT

Updated:
08/14/2011 11:02:49 PM MDT

Oscar Moreno, of Martines Palmeiro Construction, moves dirt in a front loader at the new Yarmouth Way development in Boulder last week. The development, a mix of 25 market-rate and permanently affordable houses, is one of a handful expected to come on board in north Boulder.
(
Nick Oxford
)

In the years since the Boulder City Council adopted the North Boulder Subcommunity Plan in 1995, the landscape of the city's northwest arm has morphed as developments such as Holiday and Uptown Broadway came to fruition.

In the coming 12 to 18 months, the scenery in the north Boulder and north Broadway area is poised for another significant shift as a handful of projects are expected to come on board.

Thistle Communities and Allison Management recently broke ground on Yarmouth Way, a mix of 25 market-rate and permanently affordable houses on a 1.82-acre parcel off Yarmouth and between 16th and 17th streets. Yarmouth Way will be a direct neighbor to True Corner Condos, a 22-unit affordable housing development scheduled for completion later this month.

By the first quarter of next year, construction will begin on Violet Crossing, a 98-unit, 11-building apartment complex off Violet Avenue and Broadway.

And more projects could be on the way -- especially on the west side of Broadway, said Charles Ferro, Boulder's land use review manager.

"I think the scale will be a bit different; I think you will see a mixture of residential and commercial," he said. "I think (the plan) envisions rather a mixture of new mixed-use for a portion of the west side and the preservation of some of the (existing) service and industrial areas."

New urbanism

At the time the North Boulder Subcommunity Plan was adopted, the north Boulder corridor in question consisted of established residential areas, two commercial areas and a large chunk of open space. The Broadway corridor contained a strip of light industrial and retail uses, but primarily consisted of vacant and "redevelopable land," officials noted.

In the decades prior, chunks of the area were annexed into the city of Boulder and concurrent movements were afoot to incorporate the area as a separate town. A state statute quashed the municipal incorporation efforts and a later secession effort was thrown out of court.

By the first quarter of next year, construction will begin on Violet Crossing, a 98-unit, 11-building apartment complex off Violet Avenue and Broadway. (Rendering courtesy of developer Terry Palmos)

Considering the history, plans for an additional annexation and the current state of the area, city officials worked over three years with dozens of community members to develop a plan for the future, said Ruth McHeyser, a former Boulder planning director who served as the project manager of the subcommunity plan.

"Everybody recognized that, boy, this area is going to change a lot," she said.

While some parts of the final plan did not necessarily represent the consensus of the city officials and 42-person steering committee of community members who spent years working through the details, every idea was considered and every person worked to reach some common goals, she said.

The big picture plan incorporated elements of "new urbanism," a design and development approach patterned off historic neighborhood centers and clusters a mix of uses around walkable blocks.

"This was kind of the first time the city had really thought about those (principles) and took them seriously," she said.

The comprehensive plan since has served as a touchstone for city officials as they review development applications for the area, she said.

The plan also served as a cornerstone to a group of residents' opposition to a mixed-use project from grocer Safeway that included a 55,000-square-foot Safeway Marketplace store, 35,000 square feet of retail, 17,110 square feet of office space and 10,426 square feet of civic space.

Allison Management and Thistle Communities' Yarmouth Way development, a 25-home residential project, is bordered on the west by 16th Street, the south by Yarmouth Street and on the east by 17th Street.

A grocery store of that size -- residents and some city officials said at the time -- would increase traffic and draw against some of the guidelines put forth in the subcommunity plan.

Safeway would later sell the land for $3.5 million -- with a permanent covenant that prohibited a grocery store of greater than 10,000 square feet operating on that site -- and open a store off 28th and Iris in place of the former K-Mart. The subcommunity plan and subsequent rezoning of the north Boulder area figured heavily in developments such as the 27-acre Holiday neighborhood east of Broadway and Lee Hill Road and Uptown Broadway, a mixed-use community to the southeast of Yarmouth along Broadway.

Violet Crossing

As the Safeway scuffle continued, developer Leo Palmos and his son, Terry, expressed concern about how the zoning changes would affect the parcel to the northeast of Violet and Broadway that Leo Palmos bought in 1989 and annexed by the city in 1991.

The elder Palmos' vision for the site in 1996 was a 35,000-square-foot shopping plaza.

Fifteen years later, the development on the corner of Violet and Broadway will start to move forward. However, because of zoning, planning and market conditions, Violet Crossing now is a 98-unit multi-family apartment project.

"It seems like there hasn't been a lot of new 'for rent' projects built in Boulder for the last 15 and 20 years," developer Terry Palmos said. "... And so we believe there's a demand for that project."

Violet Crossing gained city approval earlier this year and construction should start in the first quarter of 2012. Palmos said a project of this scale should take about 10 to 12 months to complete.

In the interim, Palmos said he is working with residents of the small mobile home park on the site in their relocation efforts -- possibly to the nearby Boulder Meadows.

Last week, some residents on the site said they were aware of the development, but weren't sure about the timing and how soon they might have to move.

"We don't know when we're going to go and where," resident Sandra Velacquez, 30, said in Spanish as her son translated for her.

Rudy Castro, 15, said project officials said they would give his family and other residents six months' notice.

The upheaval of his family's place of residence could be difficult, Castro said, as he sat under a tree and texted as a few children played nearby.

"It's kind of peaceful out here," the teenager said.

In addition to the mobile homes, affected businesses such as Absolute Vinyl plan to relocate.

Yarmouth Way

The developments that have progressed during the past 15 years have helped to change north Boulder into a vibrant area that's prime for new and affordable housing, said Ellen McCready, project manager at Boulder-based Thistle Communities, a developer of affordable homes and low-income rental housing.

"(North Boulder) has really grown into an exciting place for families," McCready said. "Now there are places you can walk to for eating and shopping and transportation ... the location is great."

Thistle partnered with Allison Management on the development of Yarmouth Way, a 25-unit residential community consisting of 15 market-rate houses and 10 permanently affordable houses.

As of Aug. 3, three market-rate units were under contract, McCready said. The first 12 homes -- seven of which will be affordable -- should be completed before the end of the year, she added.

Thistle has set its sights on smaller, infill projects as the developable land in Boulder has continued to shrink, said Sally Moser, a Thistle spokeswoman.

Yarmouth Way came into the picture after Clinica Campesina opted to erect its new building on a different site. The decision by Clinica to sell the land to Thistle worked out well for all of the parties, Moser said.

"This was supposed to be a big parking lot," accompanying the facility, Moser said. "Housing was a much better fit for this area."

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